Boom!

Before the chains could spear into his heart, something slammed into the man, sending him flying.

It was Baldwin, who had seen the attack and intervened.

He rolled in the air with the cultist, trading blows before they even landed.

Morgana raced to Lukas, immediately touching him and wrapping his body with vines. She could see his injuries and knew he was in critical condition.

She lifted him up in her hands, carrying his body to the edge of the arena. With all that was happening, this was the safest place to be.

Baldwin was nearby, so he’d protect her if anything happened.

Leaving the arena just meant being in a crowd that could end in a stampede, or being hit by a stray Adept ranked skill.

"Lukas!" A voice nearby yelled and Morgana’s face snapped upwards to see Lukas’ wives, Akira and Melody racing towards her.

The moment they arrived, Melody took Lukas from Morgana’s arms, her and Akira checking for breathing.

The moment they realized he was still alive, they sighed in relief, with Melody collapsing to her knees. Tears leaked from the edge of her eyes as she bowed her head over Lukas’ chest.

"I thought I’d lost you," she whispered under her breath.

Akira turned to Morgana, eyes shining in gratitude. "Thank you," she choked. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Morgana simply removed the mask on her face, giving Akira a single nod of acknowledgement. Her eyes snapped up to the sky, seeing several figures blur through the air in battle.

In the sky, Le Fay laughed as his sword pierced through the chest of one of the cultists. A second later, he ripped it out through the side, killing the man.

His hand immediately snapped up, creating a shield made of darkness on his left side.

An arrow made of fire ripped through it, emerging on the other side without seeming to lose speed. But the shield had bought Le Fay enough time to lean backwards, the white-hot arrow passing just a few inches away from his face.

He turned, firing a bolt of darkness at the archer.

The archer drew their bow, firing a few more flaming arrows. The arrows tore through the bolt of darkness, and when the attack was a few meters away, it dissipated.

However, Le Fay dashed out of the cover the dark skill had given him, his sword tearing through the air.

The archer’s eyes widened and he leaned to the side, but not fast enough, as the sword tore through his shoulder, ripping an arm off.

His other arm, which held his bow, flashed forward, thrusting the end of the bow at Le Fay.

Le Fay activated [Wraith], phasing through the attack and plunging his sword into the man’s chest.

"Sending a D-rank Adept after me?" He chuckled. "How laughable."

He looked to the side to see Barlas locked in battle with the remaining Adept. Then his gaze moved to the city in the distance.

Smoke rose from certain areas of the city as his remaining two Adepts battled Brotherhood cultists. He could see the ground forces of the cult tearing through the Awakeners in both the city and the stadium below, but he couldn’t interfere. Not until the Adepts were killed.

He looked down, searching. He sighed as he finally found Morgana at the edge of the arena in the stadium below, with Barlas locked in combat with another Adept ranked cultist.

"I guess you’ll have to handle yourself for now," he whispered before turning his gaze back to the city.

He could feel an A-rank Adept in there. That was where he was needed. He glanced one last time at Morgana before streaking through the sky, heading towards the city.

Down in the arena floor, Morgana and Akira’s heads snapped up as a loud cry filled the air.

"For the final mercy!" Screams filled the air as red robed men emerged among the spectators, killing a few before the others Awakeners began fighting back.

Akira and Morgana exchanged glances as a few of the cultists saw them and began racing towards them, brandishing weapons.

Akira reached into her spatial ring and retrieved [Temptation].

Morgana’s eyes snapped to her, surprised. "Nice weapon," she said.

"Thank you." Akira smiled.

"Luckily, I have one just like it." Morgana reached into her spatial ring and retrieved her own sword. It was an Adept ranked arming sword.

The reason she hadn’t used it in the tournament was because she already had another [Item] concealing her aura, so she couldn’t use another one. Not to mention that the weapon was Adept ranked. It wouldn’t be allowed.

Akira stared at the sword for a second before giving her a nod. "Nice sword to you too."

"Thank you."

Then Akira glanced back at Melody who was kneeling, cradling Lukas. "Take care of him."

Then she turned back just as the cultists reached them.

She swung her sword, sending out a bolt of necrotic energy as she activated [Death Bolt].

The dark energy traveled through the air, slamming into one of the cultists and killing him immediately. He was B-rank, but his constitution wasn’t even strong enough to resist the necrotic energy.

At the sight of the attack, instead of acting like normal people and growing more cautious, the cultists seemed to become even more crazed.

"For the final mercy!" They yelled, throwing themselves at the two women.

Both women stepped forward and began swinging their swords, reaping lives.

Vines erupted from the ground, spearing through some cultists and killing them, and ensnaring the other ones for either Akira or Morgana to kill.

And from Akira, bolts of necrotic energy flew through the air, striking her opponents one after the other.

And a second later, the dead bodies rose up, turning on their former comrades and slaughtering them.

Before long, she had a crowd of dead cultists under her control, fighting the others before they could get to them.

Morgana watched the fight for a moment before turning to Akira. "Not bad."

Just as Akira opened her mouth to reply, a person blurred past them, slamming into the wall of the spectator seats.

The wall cracked, dust billowing through the air.

Their eyes widened as they turned to see Baldwin there, his longsword in his hand as he struggled to his feet. His other hand clutched the deep wound that sat just under his heart.

They turned in the direction he’d been sent flying from to see the man wrapped in chains walking slowly towards them.

His right eye socket was empty, blood flowing down from it.

"What a hassle," the man said, chains slithering upright like snakes. "Let me kill the Adept first."

His eyes moved to Akira and Morgana. "Then it’ll be your turn."